Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide stock market action on Friday

The Indian market finished the session just shy of record highs on Thursday, with shares of Reliance Industries leading the advance as a strong quarterly earnings report rekindled investor confidence in the outlook for a broader market recovery.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 446 points, or 0.52%, to close at 85,632.68, while the NSE Nifty 50 gained 139 points, or 0.54%, to end at 26,192.15.

Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:

Indian equities rose on optimism around India–U.S. trade talks and progress on phase-1 agreements, boosting overall market sentiment, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, adding that global cues also remained strong, led by tech-driven gains following solid earnings.

“Fresh FII inflows and strength in large-cap sectors such as Auto, Financials, and IT supported the upbeat trend. The near-term outlook remains positive, though investors should stay cautious ahead of key U.S. economic data that may create short-term volatility,” said Nair.

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US markets
Stock markets rallied on Thursday after bumper earnings from chip titan Nvidia eased fears of an AI bubble and overshadowed a mixed US jobs report.All three major Wall Street indices jumped at the open, following gains in Europe and Asia.

Investors cheered an earnings report from AI bellwether Nvidia, released after US markets closed Wednesday, which topped expectations on fierce demand for its advanced chips.

Chief executive Jensen Huang also brushed off fears of an artificial intelligence bubble that had recently caused global equities to wobble.

European Markets
European shares climbed on Thursday, as a relief rally swept through global markets after AI bellwether Nvidia reported strong earnings, while investors awaited the release of delayed U.S. jobs data.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.7% at 565.85 points. Bourses in Germany and France also rose about 0.8% each.

Tech View
The Nifty closed higher, and index bulls challenged the all-time high on Thursday, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, adding that on the daily chart, the index moved above the recent swing high, which intensifies the bullishness.

“The rising EMAs on the daily timeframe point towards a strong bull trend. Sentiment continues to support long trades as long as the index remains above 26,100. A drop below 26,100 might trigger near-term weakness, with the index potentially falling towards 25,900. On the other hand, if it sustains above 26,160, it may recover towards 26,300 and higher,” said De.

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Most active stocks in terms of turnover
RIL (Rs 2,805 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 1,993 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,609 crore), Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 1,540 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 1,400 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,137 crore) and TCS (Rs 851 crore) were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms
Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 86.78 crore), JP Power (Traded shares: 71.4 crore), Sammaan Capital (Traded shares: 10.2 crore), YES Bank (Traded shares: 6.4 crore), Sagility India (Traded shares: 5.97 crore), Reliance Power (Traded shares: 5.7 crore) and NBCC (Traded shares: 4 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest
Shares of JP Power, M&M Financial, Natco Pharma, Netweb Technologies, Indian Energy Exchange, Radico Khaitan and TBO Tek were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

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52 Week high
Over 141 stocks hit their 52 week highs today while 187 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among the ones which hit their 52 week highs included Titan Company, Bharti Airtel and SBI.

Stocks seeing selling pressure
Stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Reliance Infrastructure, Vodafone Idea, Sun TV, Intellect Design, Aditya Birla Lifestyle, Biocon and Advent Hotels International.

Sentiment meter bearish
The market sentiments were bearish. Out of the 4,353 stocks that traded on the BSE on Thursday, 2,391 stocks witnessed declines, 1,805 saw advances, while 157 stocks remained unchanged.

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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)